The High and the Mighty Special Collector's Edition

Review by Steve Rogers

Production Year: 1954
DVD Release Date: August 2, 2005
Studio: Paramount
Director: William Wellman
Cast: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Robert Stack, Laraine Day
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: Not Rated

A commercially popular widescreen extravaganza back when it was released in 1954, The High and the Mighty still stands as the granddaddy of disaster movies, particularly those of the aviation genre. Produced by the Wayne-Fellows Company, the forerunner of Wayne’s own production company, Batjac, the film was one of the earliest CinemaScope offerings. The fledgling widescreen process was considered perfect for the dramatic grandeur that the filmmakers, namely Wayne and director William Wellman, envisioned for this disaster-in-the-air, all-star flick that gobbled up quite a bit of attention during the 1954 awards season.

But truth be told, and Leonard Maltin’s fawning introduction notwithstanding, The High and the Mighty really isn’t that great a movie. As would become standard with every disaster flick from the Airport franchise to The Love Boat TV show (yes, that moronic series certainly qualifies as a disaster), the plot here features a storyline for every single member of the plane’s passenger list, many of whom were Hollywood legends on the downside of their careers. Surprisingly, Wayne himself emerges with one of his best performances, subdued and serious as co-pilot Dan Roman, eager for a chance to prove himself again after a crash that took the life of his wife and child. Robert Stack is cast opposite Wayne in the cockpit as the pilot of a commercial airliner en route from Hawaii to San Francisco. The plane encounters engine trouble past the midway point in its journey forcing the crew to decide between ditching in the rough seas or attempting to make to make the coast on a near empty gas tanks.

While the dramatic scenario proves engaging, and Wayne’s world-weary cool under pressure enjoyable to watch, the over-the-top antics of the passengers, each with an individual woe-is-me backstory, drags on the limited action and steers this flight right into soap opera melodramatics. In fact, I kept thinking with so much corn on board why not harness this wasted fuel source and fly the plane on 100 percent ethanol. They probably could have gone around the world twice. Only Claire Trevor, reuniting with Wayne 15 years after helping the Duke achieve stardom in Stagecoach, manages to appear somewhat natural in her reactions to what is going on in her life and in the cabin. But ultimately, the hokey acting and woeful script are trumped by the inherent drama of the flight’s danger (including some above average miniatures for the day), Dimitri Tiomkin’s rousing score, and the grand spectacle of the whole thing. And oh yeah, there’s Carl “Alfalfa, Switzer, in a small role as a rescue plane co-pilot. A popcorn movie for sure, then and now.

Video Quality

Having been locked away in the vaults (literally) since Wayne’s passing in 1979 along with all the rest of the Batjac films, The High and the Mighty underwent a painstaking restoration for both video and audio (documented in one of the bonus features) to recreate as closely as possible its initial cinematic appearance. The original elements were apparently in deplorable condition. The resulting video quality is satisfying, though the film still suffers from slight grain in areas and color variations. Still, when compared with the original elements it is a marvel to see how much of the luster has been returned to this classic and the 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer does adequate justice to the original 2.55:1 CinemaScope aspect ratio.

Audio Quality

The audio restoration gives us a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track and a 2.0 stereo surround track. I preferred the 5.1 mix as the dynamics of the flight sounds were rendered more dramatically and the overall sonic ambiance was stronger. Surround effects were basically limited to a few scenes, most notably the takeoff sequence.

Special Features

Paramount has done an excellent job with their Batjac reissues (not surprisingly titled “The John Wayne Collection”) cramming them with special features that explore Wayne’s legacy onscreen and off in some depth. TV film critic Leonard Maltin hosts this special edition, and while some have groused about his less than objective presence, Maltin is a true movie aficionado whose opinion I generally respect quite a bit. Although he exaggerates the importance of the film in his introductions (one intro for the film and another on the Bonus Features disc) he is in host capacity here and not likely to dis the bosses. That being said, his commentary on Disc One has him essentially interviewing each of the participants, who include Wellman’s son, two surviving actors and an aviation expert, about aspects of the movie relevant to them. I found it an interesting track with anecdotes and tidbits galore on film history trivia that kept me entertained throughout.

Disc Two offers a lengthy documentary broken down into individual featurettes. “The Batjac Story” provides insight into the genesis of Wayne’s production company and its influence in a Hollywood where the stars were starting to use their box office clout to command more power over their careers. There’s a feature on Wellman that offers a capsulized view of the director’s adventurous, unorthodox career. “Restoring a Classic” takes a short look at the restoration process as discussed above, while “A Place in Film History” give Maltin the spotlight to basically make his case for the movie. Probably most interesting is the bio spot for author Ernest K. Gann upon whose novel the movie was based. Entitled “Adventurer, Author, Artist”, Gann was truly all of those things and exhibited a lust for life that saw him go skydiving and fly a U2 spy plane at quite an advanced age. For the aviation buffs there is “Flying in the Fifties” a nostalgic look back at commercial airline travel in its early days. Former pilots and stewardesses offer some honest and eye-opening insights into a mode of travel that was certainly not taken for granted in that decade. And there is also a fine portrait of Tiomkin, trailers, photo galleries and footage from the 1954 premiere to round out this satisfying package of extras.

Summary

Paramount is to be commended for this restoration project that restores another John Wayne classic to respectability. While the film has its shortcomings, it is great to see Wayne’s understated performance in a rare ensemble project for him. The bonus features illuminate a missing chapter in the Wayne legacy and one can only hope that The Alamo will soon be added to the list of Batjac restorations.